DENVER, May 15, 2020 — Today the Boettcher Foundation is announcing the six grantees who will be awarded a total of just under $1 million in biomedical research funding to fight COVID-19 and potential future pandemics.
The grantees represent several of Colorado’s top research hospitals and universities, including a number of collaborative partnerships. The grantees all are leading existing biomedical research efforts around COVID-19, with a collective emphasis on risk factors, treatment, testing, and vaccines.
“As a group, the six projects are innovative in how they are researching multiple facets of COVID-19 and its impacts on Coloradans,” said President & CEO Katie Kramer. “We are proud to support these efforts at a time when biomedical research is a public health priority for response, treatment, and future pandemic prevention.”
The Boettcher Foundation launched the COVID Biomedical Research Innovation Fund last month, creating a rapid response RFP targeted at the state’s leading investigators. More than 120 grant applications were submitted in the 10-day time frame before an initial team of experts reduced to a list of 39 finalists.
From there, a review panel comprised of biomedical experts selected the six grantees last week. Awards will average $165,000.
The following researchers submitted the winning proposals:
- James Crapo, MD, National Jewish Health and BioMimetix
- Elena Hsieh, MD, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children’s Hospital Colorado
- Kara Mould, MD, National Jewish Health
- Rushika Perera, PhD; Brian Geiss, PhD; David Paterson, PhD, Colorado State University
- Theodore Randolph, PhD, University of Colorado Boulder and VitriVax
- Sue VandeWoude, DVM and Nicole Ehrhart, VMD, MS, Colorado State University
The Boettcher Foundation has supported biomedical research in Colorado since the 1940s. Since 2008, the investments have included more than $15 million in research grants through the Foundation’s Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards. The awards have supported 68 Boettcher Investigators to establish their bioscience and biomedical research, encouraging Colorado’s top scientific minds to remain in-state.
“Colorado has long been home to incredible innovation, so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing an effort like this to support research around our state that could help us address this pandemic,” said Gov. Jared Polis.
About the Boettcher Foundation:
We believe in the promise of Colorado and the potential of Coloradans. Every day we champion excellence across our state by investing in our most talented citizens and high-potential organizations, because supporting their hard work and leadership will enable them to give back for years to come.
